


(Not) A Question of Innocence

by Xythia



Series: Out of time [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Drabble, Gen, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 05:14:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10210352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xythia/pseuds/Xythia
Summary: Steve Rogers is called to debrief. His commanding officer isn't happy with him.





	

Pissed off was Nick Fury’s default setting, it wasn’t anything new or surprising to see. Apart from the fact that it adorned the face of a living person.

Steve Rogers stilled in the middle of movement and stumbled as if his body didn’t quite know how to finish the intended action of simply entering a room.

“Yes, I’m alive. Get over it and fucking sit down Rogers!” the ultimate spy growled and impatiently waited until the blond had taken the seat in front of his desk. The door soundlessly closed and shut them off from the industrious activity outside.

“Sir.“ Rogers was doing his best to look like the model soldier at debrief. “I’m happy to see you are alive, all of us were distraught about your death.”

Fury’s eye narrowed to a slit. So much for that model appearance. Did he detect a soft reprimand behind the polite phrase? Really?

“I doubt it. My fucking corpse wasn’t even really cold, metaphorically speaking, for you to go against mission directive and make an absolute fuck up about it to boot, Private Rogers.”

His military rank, the correct one for once, made Rogers stiffen in his seat. “The situation got out of hand. Stark-“

Fury cut him off. “I know you skipped a lot of the required training - hell, you missed boot camp nearly entirely, come to think of it – and that’s on your old commanders, not on you. Something I will rectify, by the way. Ever heard of the chain of command?” When he smiled his teeth glowed menacingly in contrast to his dark skin.

“Something I’ll make sure you’ll follow religiously from now on. Another difference to your old commander and something I should have enforced the minute I’ve got you in my ranks.”

Rogers had that trademark stubborn chin raise down to an art, you had to give him that. “Stark never follows my orders.”

Fury’s smile got wider but by no means friendlier. “Stark is a menace, an arrogant asshole and needs a leash.” He waited until Rogers had relaxed a bit, and then slammed his fist down on the desk, hard. If it wasn’t so sturdy and bolted to the floor it would have creaked. “He isn’t a soldier.”

“No, Sir.” Rogers sighed and nodded, completely missing the point Fury was making. What a surprise.

“Why do you treat, or should I say mistreat, him as if he was one? And make no mistake, we would have this discussion if he was military, just a different slant.”

“Sir?”

Fury growled. “I feel ridiculous having to explain this to someone who is touted as the perfect example of a soldier, but here we go. A soldier is supposed to follow orders without dispute. There are strict procedures in place to deal with discrepancies in opinion. XOs and specialists have more leeway due to their valuable input than foot soldiers.”

Rogers was smart enough to guess where this was going. His perfect cheeks were darkening with a blush. He even leant backward a little bit when the spymaster surged forward to stare him down.

“Stark? Banner and Lang to a lesser degree, should be considered civilian consultants and outside the military command structure and require a different approach to function within a unit. Unlike Wilson, Romanova, Barton and Thor. Well, Thor is a special case but he is, in essence, a warrior prince and used to structured warfare.  But that’s not why you’re here. We are going to talk about your future.”

“We’ve been pardoned. The Avengers are ready to go back to work.” Roger’s voice is painfully neutral.

“Are you confusing being allowed back with a triumphant return and validation of your …fit of pique about having to answer to someone? Because it’s anything but. Maybe the schools in Brooklyn were so bad that they never taught the difference between pardoned and exonerated. ” Fury pressed his fingertips together in front of his chest. Rogers opened his mouth, no doubt to start a lengthy debate about morals and goodness and other things Fury wasn’t interested in at all. “Of course you think it should have been exoneration.”

“I did the right thing.”

Fury glared and decided to cut to the heart of the issue. “You mean, you proved that Barnes wasn’t responsible for the Vienna bombing and that makes your actions right?”

“Yes!”

“Proved that a Winter Soldier is a mind controlled victim? Not responsible for the crimes they are forced to commit?” Fury observed the Super Soldier like a hawk. Or like a cat playing with a really stupid mouse.

“You agree with me!”

The feverish sheen in Rogers’s eyes nearly made the old Spy sneer. “And you had equally good reasons to tear off to Siberia without informing anyone about something so dangerous that it made you break the law? What were you planning to do? Stop Zemo before he activates the hidden Winter Soldiers and eliminate the threat one way or another, was that your plan, Private Rogers?”

Roger nodded. “Yes!”

“They were, in your estimation, a global threat?”

“Yes! Just because it was never his intention to use them, the potential threat level was enormous.”

“You would have killed them if you had to?” Fury implored.

Rogers sighed. “If I had to, yes.”

“Because it is your duty to safeguard civilians from potential harm.”

Roger looked at him as if he couldn’t understand why they were talking about such basic things. “Of course. Where are you going with this?” Then something seemed to snap into place in his head and the Super Soldier stiffened in his seat. “You can’t compare that to the situation in Budapest and Leipzig!”

“Because those frozen Winter Soldiers weren’t named James Barnes? One minute you are insisting how dangerous such a soldier is, the next you proclaim Barnes isn’t like them. Just a misunderstood big pussycat. You can’t have it both ways.”

“Bucky was innocent!” the pained exclamation, heartfelt and raw, only made Fury sneer some more and reach for some printouts he had prepared beforehand.

“We found the files on those five cryo-soldiers. Olga Stankova. Hydra. Volunteered.”

Rogers glared.

“Michael Onda. Former KGB. Volunteered. Silvia Brandstetter. One of our best agents, captured by Hydra 1995.”

Rogers didn’t blink.

“Yckhal Sim-Jannes and Gareth Lynn, both ours as well. Hydra loves using our most dedicated members against us. All five of them killed by Zemo but that’s inconsequential, if they’d been woken up instead they would have been dead regardless, isn’t that right? Global threats have to be eliminated.”

Rogers flushed.

“Too bad for those three corpses that they aren’t your old buddies, eh?”  Fury slammed his flat palms on the desktop for some satisfyingly sharp noise effects to illustrate his ire. “You are too easily influenced by your past and a sentimental fool to boot. It's not how a good leader makes his desisions. And this is just one example of your fuck ups; the one I thought might penetrate that thick skull of yours!. If there wasn’t the threat of another alien invasion looming on the horizon I wouldn’t bother with you at all. You’re going into therapy and afterwards I’m going to be your direct supervisor, lucky me. You, Private Rogers, will finally have a commanding officer who isn’t catering to your delusions of grandeur.”

Rogers was still looking mulish and angry. “I protect the innocent. Bucky is innocent.”

Fury was tempted to roll his eyes. Innocence was a commodity in his world and not something that should sway important decisions, at least not to the detriment of everyone else. But if Rogers wanted to play it that way? He waited until the belligerent man sunk down a little bit under his unrelenting one-eyed stare before he spoke.

“So were they.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Fury, he is a cold hearted callous bastard. His opinions aren’t my own but they are at least not complete bullshit. I thought it was ridiculous how many of his decisions Rogers based on Barnes’ innocence, with innocence as the burning flame of righteousness and good, while ignoring every other victim as inconsequential and, dare I say it?, second or even third rate behind Barnes (police, innocent civilians, family stark and the list goes on). What made him worth it was his status as Roger’s friend, not anything rational but Rogers insisted that it was indeed rational because – see above ‘Bucky is innocent’. The ‘elimination’ of the winter soldiers was planned with EXACTLY the same threat assessment in mind that spurned the airport battle but suddenly ‘kill them’ is ok. Because they aren’t Bucky. It is a prime example why Rogers was wrong wrong wrong wrong and needs supervision and accountability. Sorry for the rant.


End file.
